Version 3.3

The HHS Ignite Accelerator Syllabus and 3 Month Framework

Broadly, the accelerator framework breaks down as follows:

Pre-Boot Camp: Do a couple of interviews. Start to understand what we’re about.

Boot Camp: 3 days to figure out what the 3 months will look like.

Weekly Check-ins: Scrum-like conference calls led by Instructors [5 minutes per team]

What did you learn last week?

What are you doing next week?

What are your immediate barriers?

Monthly Presentations: Bigger Reports out to leadership [15 minutes per team]

What is your updated Problem Statement?

Who is your updated Target Customer?

What is your updated Hypothesis / Value Proposition?

What does the current version of your product look like?

Tell us the story of how you evolved over the last month.

Shark Tank: the Pitch for support for your next steps!

Post Shark Tank: Assess the situation and prepare for next steps

Version 3.3

Pre-Boot Camp

Goals:

Begin exposure to concepts and methodologies and get logistical items in place to help ensure we

are all able to hit the ground running on Day 1

Activities:

1. Please watch the following videos (on vimeo.com). Note: These were made for a similar private

sector accelerator program. You can replace ‘corporation’ with organization.

Pre-Planning Pt. 1 (4:55)

Interviews Pt. 1 (5:40)

Interviews Pt. 2 (3:49)

Asking the Right Question (2:37)

Assuming you know what the customer wants (1:56) Understanding the Problem (the right way) (3:22)

2. Conduct 2-5 interviews prior to the Boot Camp.

3. Schedule 2-3 Interviews for Tuesday afternoon of the Boot Camp.

The following are completely optional but may be of interest.

4. For additional insights into the customer discovery process (Links go to Vimeo.com):

Customers Lie (2:37)

The Distracted Customer (3:12)

Engaging the Customer (3:37)

Customer Empathy (2:25)

The User, the Buyer & the Saboteur (2:24)

Death by Demo 1 (2:18)

Death by Demo 2 (1:45)

5. Videos from the Kauffman Founders School (Links go to YouTube.com):

The Lean Approach: Getting Out of the Building: Customer Development (5:44)

The Lean Approach: Customer Development Data (2:11)

The Lean Approach: Minimum Viable Products (5:52)

Version 3.3

The Boot Camp

Goals:

● Define what success for your project looks like

● Develop project plan with major milestones

● Build version 1 (low-res prototype) of your product

● Refine the following. These will be updated and presented monthly:

○ Problem Statement

○ Customer Segmentation

○ Hypothesis / Value Proposition

Activities:

● Monday the 12th: 9-5 + Happy Hour

● Tuesday the 13th: 9-5:30

● Wednesday the 14th: 9-5

Full Agenda can be found at hhs.gov/idealab.

Version 3.3

Month 1

Goals for the Month:

● Get comfortable talking to people (you’ll be doing a lot of this). Through these interactions, gain a

deeper understanding of the problem and the unique value you provide to the situation.

● By the end of the month, you should have iterated to version 2 of your product.

Activities:

● 01/22: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 01/29: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 02/05: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 02/10: Monthly Presentation to UMD and HHS CTO

○ Updated Problem Statement

○ Updated Customer Segmentation

○ Updated Hypothesis / Value Proposition

○ Version 2 of your product

○ Tell the story of how you went from V1 to V2

Version 3.3

Month 2

Goals:

● You may be moving beyond paper / electronic prototypes now to something that can actually be

used by an end-user. It’s still really rough, but someone can really hold it now and provide

feedback.

● By the end of the month, you should have iterated to version 3 of your product.

Activities:

● 02/12: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 02/19: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 02/26: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 03/05: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 03/09: Monthly Presentation to the CTO and IDEA Lab Leadership

○ Updated Problem Statement

○ Updated Customer Segmentation

○ Updated Hypothesis / Value Proposition

○ Version 3 of your product

○ Tell the story of how you went from V2 to V3

Version 3.3

Month 3

Goals:

● You are beta-testing the product in a more meaningful manner now. You’ll want to start thinking

about the Shark Tank and how to sell the product. Critical to this will be metrics: If applicable,

you’ll want to capture a baseline somehow. And then you’ll have a few users test your product;

how did that

● By the end of the month, you should have iterated to version 4 of your product.

Activities:

● 03/12: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 03/19: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 03/26: Weekly Check-in with your Instructor

● 04/02: Monthly Presentation (to Instructors and Bryan)

○ Updated Problem Statement

○ Updated Customer Segmentation

○ Updated Hypothesis / Value Proposition

○ Version 4 of your product

○ Tell the story of how you went from V3 to V4

Version 3.3

Final 2 Weeks

Training: Storytelling and Making a pitch

Goals:

● Prep and then Shark Tank!

Activities

● 04/09: Make first practice Pitch to Instructors

● 04/15: Make the Pitch to network of Advisors

● 04/20: Pitch to IDEA Lab to see if you make the Shark Tank

● 04/22: The Shark Tank

Version 3.3

Post Shark Tank

Goals:

● Assess the situation. Prepare next steps.

Activities

● Week of 04/04: One-on-one debrief convos

● Schedule any follow-up Presentations